December 15, 2005

That Asian Connection, Kanchanaburi

After a couple of days in Bangkok, hubby and I met up with his bestfriend, J, and headed to Kanchanaburi for three days and two nights.For us, there were two options to reach Kanchanaburi, one is via private transfer (e.g. car or van) or by taking the bus. Apparently, it would take us around 2 to 3 hours to get there. I wanted to take the bus but my other half wanted to take a car. Once again, we found ourselves presenting the pros and cons of both arguments and unfortunately, I was outvoted 2-1 to take a private car.

All throughout the trip ( going there and back), I was asleep. I guess there was nothing much to see since we were traversing on a highway. My two companions were busy catching up on each other's stories and football stuff so I was left in peace with my 3 hour nap.

We stayed in Royal River Kwai Hotel. It's a very quaint hotel which was not near the center. It was just perfect for us since we wanted to have a peaceful and quiet atmosphere. The keyword on this trip was RELAX.

After checking in,we decided to go to the tourism office, to check which places and activities we wanted to see and do. After a couple of brochure analyzing and understanding Thai english we managed to arrange a couple of things for us to do. We hired a boat to go about the Kwae River and visit some places. The first stop was the buddha/s inside the cave. It was a good half hour walk in and out of the cave.

There are a couple of Thai kids who will ask you if you want them to tag along and help you find your way inside the cave. If you are a little bit scared and would like someone to "guide" you, the closest you can find will be these children. You will find it easy to discover the cave though, since there are signs all over the place (I've seen so many signs like the picture above and in the end I wasn't minding the grammar anymore).

The cave was well lit ( flourescent lamps inside) but it gets a little bit tight at some point. If you are claustrophobic, you would want to get out as fast as you can. There are several buddhas in different parts of it. Some strike me as quite eerie just finding them little ones sitting there inside the cave.You would wonder though how the Thais were able to put the biggest Buddha inside this cave. It being huge and the cave quite small.

When we got out of the cave, we found a path leading to the chubbiest buddha I've ever seen so far. From this point, you can see a good view of the horizon and the kwae river. A nice spot for photo ops! :D

Next, we went to the war memorial cemetery-- Chongkai cemetery. Here you will find, beautifully manicured gardens with hundreds of epitaphs of World War 2 soldiers. Not Thai mind you, but more english,australians, new zealanders, dutch, and other foreign soldier captives who died during railway construction or staying in the concentration camps during those years. The POW average age of death? 22 years old. In their epitaph, the youngest person I saw was 17 years old. Out of respect, I couldn't bring myself to take some pictures of the cemetery.

The famous Bridge over the River Kwae was our next stop. Thanks to the movie starred by Sir Alec Guinness and the novel written by Pierre Boule (the author of Planet of the Apes). I wasn't born yet when the movie was released but I remember my father raving about it when I was a kid. It was one of my movies to watch but I couldn't get hold of a copy until now. I'm sure in one way or another, you've heard that famous whistle and knew it's about soldiers. The bridge nowadays, is still used but you will find tourists ( including us) walking along the bridge and taking pictures like there's no train that will pass by any moment.

After the whole boat tour, we decided to head back to the hotel and eat dinner. As usual it was hot, spicy, and delicious! There are a couple of non spicy thai food as well like khao pad dishes (usually rice meals with pork, chicken or beef). But I love green curry the most. The spicier the better. My husband had the audacity to spread the sauce of his curry in his rice and ended up having numb lips after. Now, he knows better, he tastes the sauce first before putting it in his rice.

The next day, we booked a tour to go to the elephant camp and do some river rafting. This was amazing. Elephants are just such cool animals. At first I was a little bit scared with them. I didn't want to end up being stepped on by an elephant. I saw an episode of Monk wherein a circus elephant stepped on his trainer's head during a rehearsal. Leading to a squishy squashy brain on the floor. My first elephant kiss was with a baby elephant. He extended his trunk on my cheeks and made a vacuum like kiss that tickles. So cute! We then had a 30 minute elephant ride along the river and fed them after. It feels weird to be sitting on an elephant's neck. their skin is really thick and they have all these stubbles ( imagine the hair growth after 2 days of not shaving) and you feel their neck bone on your tush while they are walking. It's like having a tush massage with stubbles on the side ( Yep, I'm the bozo who decided to wear shorts on this trip).

The last part of our trip was the river cruise with a raft. Our boatman was just lovely. Like any Thai, he had this sincere smile all the time even if we couldn't understand each other much with the language barrier. It was almost 45 minutes of quiet river cruising and pure relaxed moment. The two boys, decided to take a dip and just enjoy the scenery. Really, it was the perfect ending for another day in Kanchanaburi.

Since it was our last night over in Kanch, we decided to celebrate and went to Felix River Kwai for dinner and drinks. This place is quite famous for tourist. It's the more upscale hotel in the area and the place is quite big. they also have many facilities available and the worst karaoke lounge singers I've heard my entire life. The ironic thing is, there were quite a number of people who were sitting down and listening to this male and female thai duo doing some baaaaad rendition of english songs. We decided to stay outside and enjoy our drinks in each other's company until we decided we've had enough and head back to our hotel.

The next day, just before leaving kanchanaburi, we've managed to lay a couple of hours by the pool and get some sun. Then off we went...

back to Bangkok...

next on my list : Shopping 101 in Chatuchak Market.

Posted by duke at 12/15/2005 02:46:00 PM

20 Comments:

Anonymous said...: what fun! anyway, don't feel like a bozo for wearing shorts during the elephant ride... seems like your husband was wearing shorts, too! hehehe :-) such nice photos. Anyways, Merry Christmas in advance, Duke! And a great 2006 for you and your husband.

-Kala; 12/16/2005 12:03:00 AM
dreaming-neko said...: hi duke :)
i've lived in thailand for 10 years and have never been to kanchanaburi... how uncool :(

i rode the elephants at the samuprakarn crocodile farm and ayutthaya though~; 12/16/2005 05:59:00 AM
duke said...: hehehe thanks , kala! actually all three of us were wearing shorts but the two guys were smart not to ride on the neck of the elephant. Merry Christmas and a Great New Year to you too!; 12/16/2005 10:07:00 AM
duke said...: hey neko!

really? well you found yourself another reason to visit Thailand again then! :D; 12/16/2005 10:13:00 AM
Anonymous said...: AMAZING Thailand!

I'm always amazed of their culture - alot more about us Pinoys (kaso kulang lang sila sa ngiti - hehehe) but then again, visiting Thailand is like travelling in a CAVE of its own because of their wonderful treasures - the BIG BUDDHAs & elephants (sana meron ding KALABAW na gawing tourist spot na ganyan sa atin hehehe).

The most precious sites that I'd visited was the James Bond Island & the cave of monkeys sa Phuket. I would say, elephant ride was the thrilling part of it - slow walking pero na kakaaliw sila.

I love the pictures sa Elephant ride nyo, very adventurous ang dating!

BTW, thanks for the Xmas e-card.

Sawasdee.; 12/16/2005 01:24:00 PM
Analyse said...: so what's with thai english bwehehehe...hay naku, bilis ng panahon, in a little over a month, back to work na naman ako...but hey, kakamiss rin ang thai english ha hehe, the next thing i know, ill be bombarded with emails again..from thailand!

happy holiday to you and hubby, duke!; 12/16/2005 04:40:00 PM
duke said...: Knoizki I cannot count anymore how many times I was mistaken as a Thai over there...I was thinking.. was I smiling all the time??? hmmmmnnn...

Oh that famous James Bond Island.. pristine beach.. really lovely place!

our elephant ride was cool.. funny yung picture kasi stand out ang aking neon pink na backpack na shempre pinahawak ko sa asawa ko! lol; 12/16/2005 04:51:00 PM
duke said...: ana oh my!time flies... I still remember your count down on bébé's arrival and now soon you will be abck to work!

hehe thai english is one of the amazing secrets of thailand.. kakaiba! you will always find humor in it but in the end you so get used to it you think it's normal...(what a scary thought!); 12/16/2005 04:55:00 PM
Anonymous said...: hey duke nasa post na...
anyway this elephant seems a lot smaller than what my sis has ridden on at chang mai...

i have been thinking of sabah...; 12/16/2005 06:45:00 PM
Anonymous said...: DearDuke,

I was just surfing the net one day and I realized - I know this girl! Hi Duke - it's me Jonathan. We used to work together at Shangrila. I love reading your blogs - keep it up!; 12/17/2005 03:48:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Hala! magkakilala pa kayo ni Jonathan sa Shang ha?

Tanong: Paano ka kaya nya na search sa www?

From now on, I'll put a link on my comments baka may makakilala din sa ken.

hehehe.; 12/17/2005 12:19:00 PM
duke said...: sha Thank you in advance! I'm sure I will be ecstatic opening that package :D

Maybe we're bigger than your sister kaya mas mukhang maliit yung elephant namin... hehehehhe..; 12/17/2005 01:01:00 PM
duke said...: JON!!!!! how are you? it's such a small world talaga esp in the net :D

Thanks for reading my blog. Big kisses to everyone :D; 12/17/2005 01:02:00 PM
duke said...: K yep yep yep! I know Jon as well.. small world no? did you know that it only takes six degree of connection of your friends to actually know half, if not most of the ppl in your circle.

ou don't need to put on your links! Sikat ka na eh! ;); 12/17/2005 01:04:00 PM
Anonymous said...: we have one thing in common. i rode on the elephant not on the bench. i felt more comfortable but still scared to fall coz as the elephant walks, his body is wiggling and you have to balance. there was a guy with us who guided the elephant and i was holding him so tight. on the photo, he looked like he was hurt by my grip. hehehe...; 12/17/2005 08:49:00 PM
Anonymous said...: wow..whattatrip..hope i can do the same pretty soon..=); 12/19/2005 03:44:00 PM
Owen said...: this post brings back memories few years back when I visited Kanchanaburi. I like your "elephnat escapades" - I dint try that btw due to lack of time.

Merry Christmas!; 12/19/2005 05:26:00 PM
duke said...: Evi hehehehehe very funny! it's nice to ride on an elephant's back no? it's a diffeent experience...

pobs If you have the chance, do visit thailand :D Merry Christmas!

owen kanch is a very nice place! the elephants were actually on the northern part near the border.. not a lot of ppl go there as well.. layo kasi..

Merry Christmas to you too!!; 12/20/2005 09:44:00 AM
Anonymous said...: My favorite travelogue part was the elephant ride! :-) I love your pic there.

You really had fun in Asia and it shows in this blog entry.; 12/25/2005 11:34:00 PM
Fan of Bangkok Hotels said...: I can't deny that you have very good idea. By the way, from my experience of Bangkok trip. I think that looking for accommodation around Sukhumvit are is the good idea because Sukhunvit is in the heart of the shopping district, both in terms of large department stores and the various stalls lining both sides of the road. The various side-streets provide a proliferation of nightlife venues. For the renowned and well-known spots, you will need to walk onwards past the Asok crossroads to Sukhumvit Soi 21 or Soi Cowboy. This area also offers a wide selection of cuisine to choose from, both in terms of air-conditioned high-end restaurants and open air restaurants offering quite reasonable prices.; 9/24/2009 01:59:00 PM

Confessions of an Expat's Wife

December 15, 2005

That Asian Connection, Kanchanaburi

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